Wind Energy

[winston]

I don't invest in US stocks anymore but for those who invest in the US, here's a list of Wind Stocks for you..

Want to Bet on Wind Energy? Here's How
05/26/08 - 09:53 AM EDT

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, up to

This month, T. Boone Pickens' Mesa Power ordered 667 wind turbines as part of its plans for a giant wind farm in Texas.

Are you ready to invest in wind energy? But don't know where to start?

Here is the latest on the potential opportunities and risks in wind energy investing.

Cramer: Wind Stocks Are Towers of Power

A lack of supply for towers has the wind sector on fire, says Jim Cramer. A pure (but speculative) play: Broadwind Energy (BWEN - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr). Cramer thinks "this can be a gigantic, gigantic company."

From Cramer's 'Mad Money Recap': Stocks That Can Take a Hit:

Cramer called [Thomas & Betts (TNB - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr)] another "stealth" wind power stock that investors need to consider.

"Everything that wind touches is getting bigger," said Cramer who noted the management of Thomas & Betts is doing little to promote this small, but growing, portion of their business. Cramer said the company has also been selling unprofitable product lines and concentrating their efforts on its core competencies.

While Thomas & Betts reported lackluster earnings on April 30, Cramer noted the company said most of its sales will be during the latter half of the year. He also said the company's international exposure, which now stands at 40% of sales, is up from just 30% a year ago.


From Pickens Places Big GE Wind-Turbine Order:

Mesa Power, a company run by well-known energy investor T. Boone Pickens, has ordered nearly 700 wind turbines from GE(GE - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) as part of its plans for a giant wind farm in Texas.

The company placed a $2 billion order for 667 turbines for the Pampa Wind Project, which will ultimately provide more than 4,000 megawatts of electricity, or enough for more than 1 million homes.


From Cramer: Buy Wind for the Gusts and Glory:

Sanford Bernstein put out a fabulous report today about alternative energy that waxed wonderfully about wind and a little less wonderfully about solar. The latter isn't as loved, because the average selling price of solar is too high vs. the dirty competition, and it needs to cut its average selling price.

Two guys I respect, Warren Buffett and T. Boone Pickens, are both making huge splashes with wind. They are snapping up GE turbines left and right; if you recall, Buffett said he had to call in favors to get turbines, that's how back-ordered they are.


Cramer: Buy Nat Gas Now, Wind in '09

Cramer says we're in an energy boom, with natural gas set to balloon first, followed by alternative energies such as wind and solar.

From Cramer's 'Mad Money Recap': Woodward Governor's Big Wind Power Play:

[Cramer] called [Woodward Governor(WGOV - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr)] a forward thinker that now estimates its wind power business to be worth $100 million by the end of fiscal 2008, compared to the consensus estimates of only $60 million.

To bolster its wind power business, Woodward recently added its first Chinese turbine manufacturer and is building a new factory in Colorado. He said the company's wind power business is growing at a staggering 150% a year, far more than any "high-tech" company can deliver.

From Cramer's 'Mad Money Recap': Emerson's New Tech Look:

Cramer proclaimed that 2009 will be the year of wind power and recommended Owens Corning (OC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) as his favorite wind power stock.

Cramer said that Owens Corning, often thought of as just a supplier of insulation, is transforming itself into a great global manufacturer of alternative energy components. The company now has a glass-fiber composites business that accounts for 33% of its sales.

Cramer said the glass composites business combines glass fibers with other materials to make incredibly strong and flexible substances for wind turbines, among other applications.

From Jim Cramer's 'Stop Trading!': Win With Wind:

Cramer said that the U.S. is facing a shortage of supply of windmills. "Everybody who's involved in making them, it's a win still," Cramer said. He recommended Quanta Services (PWR - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Trinity Industries (TRN - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) as plays on his thesis.

Plus, don't miss Cramer: Trinity Is the Wind Play (Video).

From Cramer's 'Mad Money Recap': America's New Tech Stars:

Cramer welcomed Dan Batrack, chairman and CEO of alternative energy supplier Tetra Tech (TTEK - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), to the show to discuss what he called the company's "breakout quarter."

Batrack said that his company had a very strong quarter, with net income up 30%, revenue up 35% and the company's backlog up 40%. He credited the company's growth to strong demand for wind power.

Batrack believes the U.S. wind power market is growing faster than the consensus forecast of 25% growth. He said his company has booked over $170 million worth of orders for wind products in the past 90 days He called wind power the faster growing energy input in most states across the country. "Wind is ready to go now," he said, "without any trade offs."

Cramer said viewers should "do some homework on wind power... I want you in a wind stock."

[winston]

China’s Wind Power Development Exceeds Expectations.
June 08, 2008 By George Dimitriou

The recent boom in Chinese wind power development has surpassed the government’s original target and forced policymakers to set a new goal, that might still be too modest.

In 2007, cumulative wind installations in China exceeded 5 gigawatts (GW), the goal originally set for 2010 by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner. The Commission had set the target in its 2006 mid- and long-term development plan for renewable energy. The plan’s target for 2020 was 30 GW, a level that is now projected to be reached by 2012, eight years ahead of schedule.

In March, the NDRC revised its mid-term target, doubling it from 5 GW to 10 GW for 2010. Yet this new goal is still too modest, with wind installations likely to reach 20 GW by 2010 and 100 GW by 2020. China is witnessing the start of a golden age of wind power development, and the magnitude of growth has caught even policymakers off guard.

China’s wind power sector has experienced tremendous development since early 2005, when the government enacted its landmark national renewable energy law. Added installed capacity grew by over 60 percent in 2005, and it more than doubled in both 2006 and 2007. By the end of 2007, cumulative capacity had reached roughly 6 GW, ranking China fifth in the world in wind installations.

The country added 3.3 GW in 2007 alone, trailing only the United States and Spain. In total, the world installed 94 GW of wind power that year, with Germany accounting for about 20 GW and the United States 16 GW.

By 2007, China’s turbine manufacturing capacity exceeded 3 GW. It is expected to double in 2008, roughly sufficient to meet domestic needs for the equipment. The country is projected to see 10-15 GW of wind turbine capacity by 2012-not only meeting domestic demands, but also becoming a major exporter of wind turbines.

[kennynah]

trinar solar ...doesnt sound like wind energy hor?

[winston]

Wind Power Outpaces Nuclear, China Outpaces Itself
23 Jun 08

A new report issued by the Worldwatch Institute finds that new wind power installations outpaced new nuclear power plant construction by 10-to-1. Globally, the wind industry added 20,000 MW of new capacity last year, while the nuclear industry added less than 2,000 MW.

A big surprise for the author of the report was the massive upswing in wind installations in China:
"The biggest surprise is China, which was barely in the wind business three years ago but which in 2007 trailed only the United States and Spain in wind installations and was fifth in total installed capacity. An estimated 3,449 mega­watts of wind turbines were added in 2007, bringing China's provisional total to 6,050 megawatts and already exceeding the govern­ment's target for 2010."

Other regions and countries experiencing significant growth include Canada (added 386 megawatts), New Zealand (151), Latin America, where Brazil added 161 mega­watts and Chile installed about 18 megawatts, and northern Africa, where Egypt added 80 mega­watts.

The global wind market was estimated to be worth about $36 billion in 2007, accounting for nearly half of all investments in new renewable power and heating capacity last year. As many as 200,000 people around the world are currently employed by the wind industry. These numbers will only rise in coming years.

[kennynah]

27 Jun 2008 10:06 GMT
German grid regulator considers incentives for grid connections to wind parks

FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - The German grid regulator Bundesnetzagentur is considering introducing incentives for investments in power grids to connect them to the growing wind parks in Northern Germany, Matthias Kurth, head of the regulator said.

"We are considering measures particularly and exclusively designed for wind park projects, to grant appropriate margins to grid operators that invest remarkably (in this area)," he told the online edition of Capital magazine in an interview.

The four German transmission system operators (TSO), E.ON AG., RWE AG., Vattenfall Europe AG. and EnBW have claimed their margins from operating power grids are at below 4 percent, while the regulator has set it at 7.91 percent.

(truncated)

[millionairemind]

U.S. wind power strangled by antiquated power grid
By Matthew L. Wald Published: August 27, 2008

WASHINGTON: When the builders of the Maple Ridge Wind Farm spent $320 million to erect nearly 200 windmills in upstate New York, the idea was to get paid for producing electricity. But at times, regional electric lines have been so congested that Maple Ridge has been forced to shut down even with a brisk wind blowing.

That is a symptom of a broad national problem. Expansive dreams about renewable energy, like Al Gore's hope of replacing all fossil fuels in a decade, are bumping up against the reality of a power grid that cannot handle the new demands.

The dirty secret of clean energy is that while generating it is getting easier, moving it to market is not.

The grid today, according to experts, is a system conceived 100 years ago to let utilities prop each other up, reducing blackouts and sharing power across small regions. It resembles a network of streets, avenues and country roads.

"We need an interstate transmission superhighway system," said Sudeen Kelley, a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which governs many interstate transmission projects.

While the United States now gets less than 1 percent of its electricity from wind turbines, many experts are starting to believe that figure could hit 20 percent.

Achieving that would require moving large amounts of power over long distances, from the windy, lightly populated plains in the middle of the country to the coasts where many people live. Builders are also contemplating immense solar-power stations in the nation's deserts that would pose the same transmission problems.

The grid's limitations are putting a damper on such projects already. Gabriel Alonso, chief development officer of Horizon Wind, the company that operates Maple Ridge, noted that in parts of Wyoming, a turbine could make 50 percent more electricity than an identical model installed in New York or Texas.

"The windiest sites have not been built, because there is no way to move that electricity from there to the load centers," he said.

The basic problem is that many transmission lines, and the connections among them, are simply too small for the amount of power companies would like to squeeze through them. The difficulty is most acute for long-distance transmission, but shows up at times even over distances of a few hundred miles.

The transmission lines carrying power away from the Maple Ridge farm, atop Tug Hill near Lowville, New York, have sometimes become so congested that the company's only choice was to shut down - or pay fees to the grid operator for the privilege of continuing to pump power into the lines.

Politicians in Washington have long known about the grid's limitations and have been talking seriously about solving them for a decade, but they have made little progress. They are reluctant to trample the prerogatives of state governments, which have traditionally exercised authority over the grid but have little incentive to push improvements that would benefit neighboring states.

Another problem is that the grid is balkanized, with about 200,000 miles, or 322,000 kilometers, of power lines divided among 500 owners. Big transmission upgrades often involve multiple companies, many state governments, and numerous permits. Construction costs are astronomical, and every addition to the grid provokes fights with property owners who do not want to look at a line of power pylons marching across the landscape.

These barriers mean that electrical generation is growing four times faster than transmission, according to U.S. government figures. In the last 20 years, according to the U.S. Energy Department, peak electrical demand is up more than 53 percent but the means to transmit that electricity have grown by only 12 percent. (The vulnerability of the grid became clear in August 2003, when trouble on a few power lines in Ohio precipitated a blackout that affected 50 million people in the Northeastern United States and Canada.)

In legislation passed in 2005, Congress gave the Energy Department the authority to step in to approve transmission if states refused to act. The department designated two areas, one in the Middle Atlantic states and one in the Southwest, as national priorities where it might do so; 14 U.S. senators then signed a letter saying the department was being too aggressive.

Energy Department officials say that, however understandable the local concerns, they are getting in the way of a vital priority.

"Viewed from a broad perspective, it is clear that modernizing the electric infrastructure is an urgent national problem, and one we all share," Kevin Kolevar, assistant secretary for electricity delivery and energy reliability, said in a speech last year.

Unlike many of the nation's energy problems, improvements to the grid would require no fancy new technology.

[winston]

$150 Billion is Blowing In the "Wind" by Louis Basenese

The turmoil on Wall Street seems to grow by the day, with everyone wondering what to do next. Yesterday Alexander Green gave us some pointers on how to handle the mayhem, and a reminder that there are still great companies out there. And that these financial concerns, however relevant, will eventually subside.

Unfortunately, we can't say the same about our energy crisis. It's not going away.

It's become cliché to say that the United States is addicted to oil. I'll make no effort to refute the claim because it's true. It's an expensive habit, too.

The upshot, however, has been the explosion of interest in renewable energy. Last year, investors poured a record $71 billion into the alternative energy space. And billions more funnel in every day.

But with so many possibilities - hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal, biofuel, clean coal technology - investors are forced to pick which energy source will distinguish itself as the most viable replacement for oil. It's a crapshoot.

That is, until you realize the shooter (in this case Wall Street) is rolling a pair of "loaded" dice. In recent months, heavy hitters like The Blackstone Group, General Electric and T. Boone Pickens have stealthily invested billions into a single renewable energy source. JP Morgan Chase revealed that it's holding a $1 billion stake in the very same investment.

Even better, in the next five years, the governments in the United States, China and Europe will plow at least $150 billion into the same alternative, according to CLSA Research.

And, unlike oil, there's no possibility of it running out. So let's take a closer look at this odds-on favorite to win the alternative energy derby.

And the Winner Is...

Wind. It's clean (wind power generates absolutely no greenhouse gases). It's renewable. And it involves no production decline curve. Hence, 30 years from now we won't be worrying about "Peak Wind" theories coming to fruition.

It also can't be hoarded by power hungry cartels. In fact, enough of it exists to satisfy global demand seven times over, according to a Stanford University study. North Dakota alone has enough of it to meet 25% of U.S. demand.

But perhaps most importantly, it's finally coming of age. Just consider:


From 2000 to 2007, the size of the wind power industry increased fivefold.


Last year, records were shattered with $36 billion in total global wind investments with the United States leading the way with $9 billion.


In the next 10 years, the wind industry is expected to quadruple in size.

Hands down, wind is the fastest growing source of power. But can such growth continue?

Sure, the Department of Energy and countless other studies and industry experts say it will. But are they being realistic? Absolutely. And here's why...

Wind Simply Works

First and foremost, wind power makes economic sense. If the price of oil drops to $50 a barrel (it won't), the economics still work; even without government subsidies.

You see, wind can be used to generate electricity for 6 to 8.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.

For comparison's sake, the cost of nuclear power runs about 15 cents per kilowatt-hour. Coal now costs north of 10 cents (without factoring in carbon capture and storage). And gas-fired power costs approximately 12 cents.

Keep in mind, too, that just a few years ago, wind costs rested north of 15 to 20 cents. But today, costs are low enough in some markets to compete with conventional power generation methods. And future advancements will make wind power even cheaper.

Look no further than Denmark. It already generates 20% of its electricity from wind. And Spain, Portugal and Germany boast similarly impressive penetration rates of roughly 12%, 10% and 7%, respectively.

The timing couldn't be more perfect, either. While wind energy costs are dropping, costs for competing technologies - coal, nuclear and gas - are headed in the opposite direction.

Wind is the cost effective way our nation can start solving its oil addiction. And unlike many of the other far-fetched solutions to our energy needs ...

Wind is realistically attainable.

[winston]

Voters in Massachusetts have expressed overwhelming support for an energy-producing wind farm project that has been opposed by Sen. Ted Kennedy.

The Cape Wind Project would erect 130 windmills in Nantucket Sound, off the coast of Massachusetts, and could provide three-fourths of the power needed by Cape Cod and nearby islands, which is now largely supplied by coal-fired plants
The Cape Wind Project has been "frustrated at every turn by a handful of yachtsmen, Kennedy included," wrote columnist Froma Harrop, who is on the staff of the Providence Journal.

A book by Peter Schweizer, "Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy," also disclosed Kennedy’s efforts to torpedo the wind farm.

"The Cape Wind Project would be built in Nantucket Sound, about six miles off the coast from the Kennedy compound in Hyannis," Schweizer explained.

"The problem was not aesthetic; the Kennedys wouldn't be able to actually see the turbines from their home. Instead Robert Kennedy Jr., who had been beating the drum for alternative sources of energy for more than a decade, complained that the project would be built in one of the family's favorite sailing and yachting areas."

– NewsMax

[millionairemind]

An interesting article on Wind Energy popped up on Technology Quarterly in The Economist this week.

http://www.economist.com/science/tq/dis ... d=12673331

[winston]

It's Good to Know: "The Answer, My Friend, Is Blowing in the Wind"

Despite a recession-related dip, the "green energy" industry is still pretty hot. And it's about to get hotter thanks to new federal regulations mandating that the country draw more of its power from alternative/renewable sources. One of those alternatives is wind. Jobs in the wind-power industry grew 70 percent last year, and associated industries (like windmill manufacturers) expect significant growth.

U.S. wind farms had a combined capacity of 25,300 megawatts by the end of 2008. And in 2009, industry watchers expect wind to generate enough electricity to power nearly 7 million homes. Texas is the king of wind power, with 7,118 megawatts produced each year, followed by Iowa with 2,791 and California with 2,517.

(Source: Associated Press)